2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
Fantasy World are selling a bunch of Transformer toys but the highlight has to be the large Optimus Prime action figure. They are selling it for around KD37 but on Amazon its being sold for $65. I’ve seen the same model but the limited edition Japanese version (metal) in Muthana Complex for KD80.
The Ministry of Information Interior has a competition to find the best driver in Kuwait. You can apply online and the grand prize is I think KD250.
To qualify you need to:
1) Own either a car or motorbike
2) Not have gotten any traffic violations between 07/31/2006 and 01/07/2007
3) Not have had any car accident between 07/31/2006 and 01/07/2007
To enter the competition visit the MOI website. [Link]
I am Am I the only one who finds this competition funny? Funny or not I am still going to sign up.
update: Imagine if the cops start recruiting drivers…
“Hi, sorry to pull you over but we’ve been tailing you for the past 30 minutes and we’ve noticed your driving skills are unparalleled. We would like you to consider signing up to the “Role Model Driver of the Year” competition because we think you have a strong chance of winning. What do you say?”
I just lost a bet in the office. Someone said McDonalds delivered and I said no. Turns out they do! Their delivery number is 2472221. Weird.
update: added their delivery flyer
Last month I went down to Beirut to film an MTC-Vodafone commercial and yesterday it was finally aired on TV. I just uploaded it on YouTube if anyone wants to watch it.
[YouTube]
I couldn’t mention this before because I didn’t want to reveal too much but we managed to find and get the rights to the old Kuwaiti song “Everything OK“. Many of you might recognize it since I posted about it awhile back.
If you didn’t see the pictures from the making of
you can click the following links:
Egypt – Day 1
London – Day 2
India – Day 3
Tonight I passed by the recently opened Burger Bar in Kuwait City. I got there and found the two parking spots in front of the place empty so I parked my car and got down when the Holiday Inn security guard came up to me and told me I couldn’t park there. Since Burger Bar is located adjacent to Holiday Inn downtown, the security guard told me I wasn’t allowed to park in the two empty spots outside the restaurant. He told me I had to park across the street. I thought that was strange but wasn’t in the mood to argue and just went back into my car and parked on the other side.
The place from the outside looked like a Japanese restaurant and when I looked through the windows I saw what looked like Japanese waiters. I thought to myself this must be the wrong place, even Nataly was like “Mark this looks like a Japanese restaurant”. Once we walked around to the main entrance we saw the Burger Bar logo and realized we were at the right place. We walked through some dimly lit candles outside (very Japanese-ish) into the restaurant where we were greeted by waiters dressed in red silk clothing and black bandannas which again was very Japanese-ish. The place was empty except for one table with two men so we sat down wherever we wanted. We had two choices for seating, what looked like long benches or one of the booths, we chose the booth since it looked more comfortable. Our table was the smallest in the restaurant and I think it could easily fit 8 people. I don’t know if they were made for extremely overweight people or they believe that people eat in packs like hyenas but whatever their reason, it felt really awkward having the whole table for just me and Nat. The music that was playing was loud and guess what genre… it was country music. So, so far the place looked Japanese, had Japanese looking waitresses dressed in Japanese like clothing, playing country music and serving burgers. Pretty strange combination but I was like whatever, its “different”.
We got the menu and I decided to order the mozzarella fries for starters, the mushroom burger for my main course and a junior cheese burger for Nat (junior = slider). The waitress asked me what I wanted to drink and I told her Pepsi. She then replied saying they didn’t have Pepsi. I looked at her surprised thinking to myself what the hell, no soft drinks?? So I asked her what do you mean you don’t have Pepsi? She was like we don’t have Pepsi only Coca Cola. I was like god damn woman I thought you meant you didn’t have any soft drinks! Pepsi, Coke whatever its all the same.
The food arrived a while later and was fairly disappointing. The fries firstly weren’t that great, there was only a small portion of mozzarella over them and they weren’t even melted right. The burger had a strange flavor to it. The actual hamburger bun was great but the meat tasted like “kafta”? I am not sure what but it wasn’t very burgery.
Overall I wasn’t impressed. The mushroom burger was for KD2.500 and that was one of the cheapest burgers on the menu, the majority were around KD4 and KD5. The fries I believe were super expensive costing KD2.700 and they were sooo not worth it. Nats slider cost 750fils which is slightly more expensive then Burger Boutique which brings us to the question, is Burger Bar in the same league as Johnny Rockets and Burger Boutique? Hell no. Final score 2.5 out of 5. Although the Japanese Cowboy look is strange, the design of the place is still pretty cool. Other positives are lots of parking spaces across the street and the fact that you don’t have to call 4 years in advance to book a table is a plus. Food is lousy though but might be worth a visit just to check it out.
For lunch I passed by Shatea Al Watyia, a small Kuwaiti restaurant located behind Casper & Gambini in Kuwait city. The restaurant is in an old Kuwaiti style home which goes well with the menu which is based on traditional Kuwaiti food.
The inside of the restaurant is divided by regions, since we were a large group we sat in Fintas which was a private room with enough seating for 8 people. Flipping through the menu there are a lot of dishes to choose from ranging from machboos to grills. I decided to go with the Mourabian which is a rice and shrimps dish.
We first got the starters which were made up of a variety of dishes including sambousak, yerish and a lentil soup. The sambousak was so so, but the yerish was pretty cool. It was my first time trying it and I honestly forgot whats it made from but to me it tasted like a chilidog’s chili which is pretty cool. The lentil soup was also really great.
The main course arrived soon after that and the quantity was huge. Last week I was in Ta’al and ordered the shrimp curry which disappointingly came with 8 pieces of tiny shrimps. In comparison at Oum Habib the Mourabian had at least two dozen tiny shrimps and the rice portion was gigantic!
The general atmosphere of the place was quiet and the staff friendly and fast. I don’t know how packed the place gets in the evening but I imagine its even cooler when filled with a lot more people. The prices are also really cheap. The soup was KD1, the appetizers around KD1.500 and my main dish was just KD3.500. Thats a really good deal for what you are getting in return. The shrimp curry at Ta’al for example was KD5.500 without rice. Good food, great prices and good service, final score is a 4.5 out of 5. I would definitely go back there again.
update: Erzulie decided to edit my review since my vocabulary is limited to three words “good” “cool” and “amazing”. If you want to check out her interpretation of my review [click here]
A reader sent me the following email:
Dear Mark,
I am personally aware of a very sad story about an American teacher in Kuwait. The teacher, Katherine Phillips, is an Al-Bayan Bilingual School Middle School Deputy Principal. She is the victim of an influential parent who has effectively detained her in Kuwait. Her only crime was to suspend the influential parent’s son for fighting! This is a normal procedure but the parent threatened her and is carrying out his threat. Her full story can be found in International Schools Review site.She is crying for help. It would be great if you mentioned it.
Regards,
bu ziyad
You can read her story by clicking [Here]
During lunch I went with a bunch of coworkers to the ice skating rink. I was expecting the place to be packed with kids since school is out and the weather is extremely hot but instead the place was deserted! I am such a bad skater but I love the place since its freezing cold and in this heat I can’t think of any place I would rather be except for the frozen isle section at Sultan Center but thats about it.
For people who haven’t been there before the entrance is KD1.500 and that includes entrance and rental of the skates. Its also easy to find, look for a yellow building in Kuwait City.
The best thing about summer is KDD Silver ice cream.
The second best thing about summer is Faloda sorbet.
The third best thing about summer is Sunkist orange drink.
Faloda, also spelt Faloodeh or Faludeh and is a Persian sorbet made of thin frozen noodles. Its pretty strange but tastes amazing. Really refreshing plus you can add either lemon or rose water to it for extra flavor.
The place I get my Faloda from is located in Kuwait City, opposite Al Rayya mall and under the Baba Taher Iranian restaurant. I think the place that sells it is called Marafie. A small sized portion will set you back 250fils which is the same cost as regular ice cream.
According to Wikipedia, Faloda is one of the earliest forms of frozen desserts, existing as early as 400 BCE.
Today I had a flat tire AND a flat spare! The worst part though was trying to find four tires for my car. I went to the Canada Dry street and went to all the main dealers and they were mostly out of stock with the good stuff. In the end I managed to get the last two Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 available and I reserved two more that should arrive to Kuwait sometime in July. I reserved two tires, thats like the most ridiculous thing!
A while back I noticed some girls were wearing their hijab in a way that makes them look like coneheads. A friend told me it was a new trend and that the way the girls got their “conehead look” was by using cans of Pringles and toilet paper rolls.
Today while browsing I found this funny post on Erzulie’s blog where she drew a girl in hijab and lets us guess whats under it. I guessed option (D). [Link]
A silly video thats being passed about by bluetooth.. and now YouTube. By the way whats up with all the secret service lookalike security guards at Virgin? First time I saw them I thought there was a VIP in the store.
[YouTube]
Some guys in Kuwait figured out how to get free candy from a vending machine. In short, shake the hell out of the machine. Pretty silly but funny video.
[YouTube]
I was checking a blog called Truth or Dare Q8 when I found a post on t-shirts with the following messages on them:
I love GzZz
Queen of GzZz
Sushi Lover from Kuwait
I love Bniader
I love Muchboos Deyay
I love 7adaag
I love Gahwa
I love Chai 7aleeb
I hate Dawaam
I hate Rejeem
3zooby & lovin’ it!
I thought they were pretty funny so I emailed the owner for some pictures of the shirts since I was curious to how they looked like. The owner emailed me back with the pictures so I thought I would share them with everyone.
The store is called Truth or Dare and is owned by a young Kuwaiti female. Its located in Beit el Mazar which I think is in the same block as Casper & Gambini is in Kuwait City behind the Church. You can check out her blog by clicking [Here]
Nibaq just finished setting up KuwaitBlogs Search and even created a googlish logo so try it out.
